The Mighty Ultimatum 1 1
Appearing in "Origin of the Species Part One" Featured Characters *Luke Smith Supporting Characters * Xavier Jackson * Jane Smith * Bart Smith * unnamed CEO Villains * Sanction (the Mighty Ultimatum) Locations * Axon Tower * Kings High School * Downtown * 8 Lucky Drive Origin of the Species Part One Luke Smith stands in front of a 10x10 metre glass tank built into the white floor and ceiling. Inside are hundreds of geckos, climbing up the glass, shooting across the platforms and drinking from the various pools of water inside. "To think, it was only a month ago these geckos were normal. Now, they're partially genetically altered and being prepared for the next treatment. They grow so fast." Luke smiles at the geckos. Dr Jones stands at some controls, programming the tank's built-in machines. "Don't get to attached to them. For one, you're only an intern. Secondly, this could all go wrong." "Don't say that! Nothing will go wrong!" Luke picks up his tablet from the small table by the door, "So do these things actually work?" "Wouldn't have bought them if they didn't." Luke turns it on and a birds eye view of the tank appears on the screen, "How does it work?" "Place a finger on each corner and pull up." He does that, and as he pulls up, the square follows. It stops when the dimensions of the holographic tank are to scale. Holographic geckos appear, in the exact positions they are in the actual tank, and move in unison with them. "This is amazing! Does it do anything else?" "There's a hologram for every room in the Axon Tower. There's a hologram of the entire building itself as a single model. You can piece the rooms together. And if you have the time, you can plug it into a socket in your house and it'll create a model of your house, rooms and all. It uses the energy grid to put together the holograms. If you want to see where people are, you'll need ultrasonic equipment in each room." He points at the corner of the room where a white dome sticks out. "Cool." He opens up various rooms, then the entire building. The tall, mostly cylindrical building rises up. The hexagonal base of the building stands out due to its shape, giving the building a more defined appearance. The spire on top rises up, with the sphere atop that collects solar energy to power certain parts of the building. Suddenly, his phone rings, "Hello?" "We're in the lobby. The man in administration says either you or Derrick will have to come down to collect us." "I'm just going down to collect my parents. Be back in five." "No worries. I'm just happy that they could make it." He smiles at Luke, who then walks out and into the main lab room and to the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors shut, Dr Jones rushes into the large room that is the main lab and opens a metal briefcase. Inside are three syringes, each with a different coloured fluid within (green, blue and red). He grabs the red one and injects it into his shoulder, the blue one into the palm of his hand and the green one into his ankle. He puts them back into the briefcase and closes it. As he walks away, a robotic voice says, "Sanitising syringes. Refilling." DING! The elevator doors slide open and Luke steps out, his parents behind him.,he rushes across the main lab and into the tank room, "Ready?" "When aren't I?" He laughs at his own, lame, joke-that's-not-a-joke. "I was just waiting for your parents to get here. Jane, Luke's mum, enters first, then Bart. "Lets get going!" He presses a few buttons on a pad on the wall. The water in the tank drains, confusing the geckos, who begin to scurry to the other locations of water, only to find none. Suddenly, holes in the roof open, and a green gas is released. "It's amazing!" Luke watches in awe as the gas spreads through the tank, becoming more transparent as it diffuses. Then, all of the geckos drop off of the sides of the tank, hitting the various platforms. They all gasp and step back. "It...didnt work." Luke sits in class. His teacher goes on about ecosystems, but he doesn't pay much attention. The geckos had died, all of them, and it was in part his fault. He'd helped with the gas, and he couldn't get over it. He pushes his seat back, stands up and walks out. The teacher says to the class, "Don't worry. He's just going through some bad times at the moment." Downtown... A man in a silver suit and black tie sits in his office. The doors opens and he speaks, "Welcome. Glad you made it." He smiles menacingly. "How are you today?" A man enters, wearing a skintight black jumpsuit, his face hidden in the shadows. "Sinister." "Can you feel sinister? I think it's just a way of describing things. That turtle looks sinister, that person looks sinister. You look..." "Enough. Why have you called me here?" The man pulls his legs up and slams them down on his desk, "Because you're the boss of this whole operation. And none of us lackeys know what the plan is. If we don't know the plan, how can we take part?" "You don't." He steps forward, face still hidden. "You're on the business side of things. The three of you form the triangle around the downtown area. The three of you will cause the most chaos." "What does that mean?" "You will know, soon enough." He throws a box over to him, "Open that when you get a phone call from me. It'll tell you a part of my plan. Good luck." He turns and walks away, closing the door as he leaves. The man in the suit waits patiently. Then, the phone rings. He answers, "Hello?" Silence. Another ring. It isn't from the phone, it's inside the box. He opens it, assuming that's the signal. He sees a touchscreen phone wired into a device. On the screen, it shows 0:02. Then, 0:01. He realises, tries to run, but is caught in the massive blast. All at once, the tops of three buildings around the downtown area explode. Standing in the elevator, the man in the suit hears the explosion, before the cables of the elevator are torn by the blast, and the elevator plummets. "Activate body armour." A number of forcefields appear around him and form an armour. The helmet forms, and he lunges at the doors, punching through, and into the lobby. "I declare that this city will not be ruled by the government. This city, will be ruled by yours truly, the Sanction!" Luke lies in his bed, trying to sleep. A dim light flickers on his desk. "When will they stop messaging me at this time?" He sits up and looks over, "Yes!" Standing before the tank, Luke smiles at the geckos crawling around. "This is amazing! They survived!" Then he notices, that several structures have been built, "He have done much more than that!" Looking, Luke sees a gecko on a hovering pad just inside the tank. It looks somewhat human in appearance, that's when he notices they all do. "You can talk?" "Yes, we can. We scanned the Internet and used a telepathic field to teach everyone the language in a matter of minutes. We all speak fluently now. We also have a much higher level of strength. The gas appears to have condensed our muscle, and grown more in the process. He now have a much higher density, allowing us to lift much heavier objects." "You've got superpowers?" The idea made him excited. "As you 'nerds' call it, yes. We have superpowers." Luke reaches up and opens a panel in the ceiling, revealing a canister. "Backup canister." The gecko replies, "Are you sure about that? You would appear dead for a few hours. People would panic." "It's the middle of the night. No one will worry." He opens the canister, releasing the gas. He quickly becomes engulfed, choking slightly, then drops to the floor. But unlike the geckos, he doesn't die for a few hours. Because moments later, his eyes snap open, he jolts into an upright sitting position and gasps for air. "Do I have superpowers now?"